Mill race

She liked the cold water of the mill-race, and without shame or hesitation would throw off her frock and float like a mermaid, almost invisible, in the watery element.

For a time the apostis glowed like a forge; gradually it dimmed and went out, and our ship resumed a more conventional position, though the wind still screamed in the rigging and the clouds scudded under us like flecks of foam in a mill race.

The mill race was a ditch that was cut which started along the river’s edge that ran past the mill to provide the water that would turn a wheel that would provide power to the saws. There was a gate on the ditch which could be raised or lowered to allow the water to run or to stop its flow down the ditch.